1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a device management device and a recording medium which are adapted to manage devices on a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the demand for IT (information technology) asset management in corporations is increasing from a viewpoint of legal regulation and cost reduction. An increasing number of corporations manage not only PC (personal computers) or software, but also network devices, such as MFP (multifunction peripherals) or LP (laser printers), as a part of the IT assets.
Although a large number of asset management support tools (asset management systems) to automate the management of the PC or software have been developed, there is no adequate management support tool for automating the management of the MFP or LP. The actual situation of most of the corporations is that an asset book is created and managed by using a guidance manual in order to perform the management of the MFP or LP.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2009-301217 discloses an asset management support processing system. In this asset management support processing system, when an approved application for use of an asset management object is detected, an application ID is acquired. An asset ID is added to each approved device. Specifically, an asset serial number that is common to a device associated with a same user ID and a device classification corresponding to a device code are added to an application ID, so that an asset ID is generated. A process of registration of an asset management ledger in a database and a process of transmission of a new delivery request are performed.
On the other hand, conventional device management support tools (software) which have been widely used in the related art are mainly aimed at automating searching of a device on a network, detection of an alert, and reception of a counter.
However, in the asset management support system according to the related art, a device management device that is capable of acquiring device information of devices on a network, and an asset management device that manages the devices on the network as IT assets are arranged independently of each other. Hence, even if the device management device is introduced into the asset management system including the asset management device, the asset management device is unable to use the information treated by the device management device. There is a problem in that the asset management system has difficulty in performing efficient asset management.